The crew help some people out of something like a dark matter cloud or something like that, idk, not a relevant detail, but it turns out that the people they helped belong to an androgynous/hermaphroditic alien race. One of the aliens has a series of conversations with Riker, an officer of the ship, about the sexual differences between their cultures. Riker finds the idea of a society without sexes to be weird and boring, the alien (apparently) finds the idea of sexes to be primitive and confusing. Later in the episode, the alien admits to having feelings for Riker, and to being born feeling more feminine than masculine. She then tells him about how her culture views that phenomenon: people born "gendered" are ridiculed and, once proven to have a gender, are forced into treatment until they are androgynous like everyone else. They come out of the treatment brainwashed into thinking that they were sick for feeling male or female, and glad that they don't feel that way any more. The alien is then found out by her superior to be that way, and she is forced into treatment and comes out, as expected, in complete shame for her previous "disability" and happy that she was "fixed."

I love Star Trek, TNG - always my favorite. One thing i found remarkable about those shows is their capacity to raise awareness of tolerance and how really silly biases are/can be. No matter what the culture or how someone appears to be, either exotic or grotesque...what alien planet they come from , once both allow their selves to really get to know each other, ultimately and inevitably, they can come to befriend and accept one another. It's just a matter of intelligence and openness.

That was always one of the predominant thoughts that would form in my mind as i watched those shows.

The crew help some people out of something like a dark matter cloud or something like that, idk, not a relevant detail, but it turns out that the people they helped belong to an androgynous/hermaphroditic alien race. One of the aliens has a series of conversations with Riker, an officer of the ship, about the sexual differences between their cultures. Riker finds the idea of a society without sexes to be weird and boring, the alien (apparently) finds the idea of sexes to be primitive and confusing. Later in the episode, the alien admits to having feelings for Riker, and to being born feeling more feminine than masculine. She then tells him about how her culture views that phenomenon: people born "gendered" are ridiculed and, once proven to have a gender, are forced into treatment until they are androgynous like everyone else. They come out of the treatment brainwashed into thinking that they were sick for feeling male or female, and glad that they don't feel that way any more. The alien is then found out by her superior to be that way, and she is forced into treatment and comes out, as expected, in complete shame for her previous "disability" and happy that she was "fixed."

Heterophobia as a metaphor for homophobia. God, Star Trek is so good.

I agree. I saw that episode. It really turns things around and makes you think. But I totally hated that ending where she ends up brainwashed and fixed. That was creepy. That is what all the rightwing fundies, moralists, and family values devotees want to do to homosexuals in this country.

star trek needs the occasional sad-ending. too many happy endings and it becomes a cliche show. last episode i watched, one of the main characters of that episode (not a normal main character) died at the end trying to prove herself.

Humpty wrote:star trek needs the occasional sad-ending. too many happy endings and it becomes a cliche show. last episode i watched, one of the main characters of that episode (not a normal main character) died at the end trying to prove herself.

It's amazing how well that show has worn. I only started watching it last year, and it seems timeless.

I also love the character of Guinan, the counselor type who runs the bar. Smiling and listening go a long way when you come to think of it.

she can be quite...aggressive though, when she has a point to get across.

in one episode, they found a borg stranded alone on a planet, disconnected from the collective. the ship decided to help him and to heal him, and then to try to make him an individual. Guinan disapproved because of how ruthless the borg were, and also obviously because they destroyed/assimilated like 95% of her own race, so in order to make her case, she did something quite clever. She was practicing fencing with captain picard, and she pretended to be injured, and when he was like "are you alright," she jumped up and smacked him with her sword and said, "You felt sorry for me, see where that got you?"

Humpty wrote:she can be quite...aggressive though, when she has a point to get across.

in one episode, they found a borg stranded alone on a planet, disconnected from the collective. the ship decided to help him and to heal him, and then to try to make him an individual. Guinan disapproved because of how ruthless the borg were, and also obviously because they destroyed/assimilated like 95% of her own race, so in order to make her case, she did something quite clever. She was practicing fencing with captain picard, and she pretended to be injured, and when he was like "are you alright," she jumped up and smacked him with her sword and said, "You felt sorry for me, see where that got you?"

Good catch, Humpty. I don't think I saw that episode. Even counselors should show some sign of spunk now and then.

Humpty wrote:star trek needs the occasional sad-ending. too many happy endings and it becomes a cliche show. last episode i watched, one of the main characters of that episode (not a normal main character) died at the end trying to prove herself.

Are you referring to Tasha Yar? If I remember correctly, she was part of an 'away' team and she sacrificed her life and ended up in that deep black sucky pond that pulled her down. I remember being so moved by her courage. But you may not be referring to her.

anyway, she didn't deliberately sacrifice her life. she basically died for nothing.

My perspective is contrary to yours on that. The fact that Tasha Yar's attempt to rescue Deanna Troi failed and she, TY, died because of it doesn't negate her life/death or actions. As chief tactical and security officer, her life was always being put on the line and challenged and proven. Courage under fire, whether she saved DT's life or not, speaks for her not having died for nothing as THAT was her will to action, her freedom of choice. In the future, perhaps others in starfleet may have used the example of her courage, her love of duty, her willingness to risk dying in order to save others, failed or not, as an example for their life. Who knows how many lives in the future may have, in actuality, been saved because of her, in your estimation, futile and fruitless, actions. Life is a continuum, after all. And William James said that 'the greatest use of life is to spend it for something which will outlast it'...even if that 'spending is your last. But the effect of it may go on and on and on...ad continuum...

In my estimation, dying for nothing might be something like a drug user dying of an overdose...at least to me...what a waste. I suppose though that even that could be seen and used by someone as an example to stay away from drugs albeit the user didn't willingly and courageously give his life for benefit of another.

So, she did deliberately 'sacrifice her life' because she realized that with every action she partook in, duty-wise and/or to save a life, there was always the possibility that she might die. To you, it may have been for nothing because you are not thinking forward................

Humpty wrote:she can be quite...aggressive though, when she has a point to get across.

in one episode, they found a borg stranded alone on a planet, disconnected from the collective. the ship decided to help him and to heal him, and then to try to make him an individual. Guinan disapproved because of how ruthless the borg were, and also obviously because they destroyed/assimilated like 95% of her own race, so in order to make her case, she did something quite clever. She was practicing fencing with captain picard, and she pretended to be injured, and when he was like "are you alright," she jumped up and smacked him with her sword and said, "You felt sorry for me, see where that got you?"

Good catch, Humpty. I don't think I saw that episode. Even counselors should show some sign of spunk now and then.

Insofar as Guinan was a bartendress, though she was far more than that, you can say that she was a counselor, though she wasn't actually the counselor...that was Deanna Troi. DT and Data were actually my favorite characters.

arcturus rising wrote:Insofar as Guinan was a bartendress, though she was far more than that, you can say that she was a counselor, though she wasn't actually the counselor...that was Deanna Troi. DT and Data were actually my favorite characters.

The best counselors are the ones like Guinan, who smile and listen. A good counselor can be anybody then, including a bartender.

arcturus rising wrote:Insofar as Guinan was a bartendress, though she was far more than that, you can say that she was a counselor, though she wasn't actually the counselor...that was Deanna Troi. DT and Data were actually my favorite characters.

The best counselors are the ones like Guinan, who smile and listen. A good counselor can be anybody then, including a bartender.

Yes, I totally agree with you in that, especially if that bartender, or whoever, actually cares about people, and it isn't about getting tips, and that caring comes through. Of course, the timing may not be too conducive to sharing; but, at the same time, the bartender person may come back and forth to listen. Sometimes all it really takes is a bent loving ear. That, coupled with the person hearing their self and what they are saying, can so easily change the dynamics that are flowing within. Almost like when we've written down what we are feeling and what comes from our stream of consciousness and then we proceed to read it back, especially out loud. Little dancing epiphanies begin dancing in our brains.